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SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
Serving the Community beyond the Church
We are grateful for your prayerful consideration of how best to serve
The Outreach Committee encourages parishioners and parish groups to reach out to others, particularly those in need. We commit to outreach ministries that will meaningfully and transformatively engage with people in the outside world. We encourage both financial and hands-on support. We also work to achieve inter-faith unity through reaching out to other religious groups. Contact Jean Paré or Deni Cantrall for more information.
St. Andrew's Community Thanksgiving Dinner
St. Andrew's parishioners provide a sit-down and carryout Thanksgiving meal at lunchtime on Thanksgiving Day. Anyone in the community is welcome to attend.
Time commitment: From a few to many hours on Thanksgiving as well as food and table preparation on preceding days.
Who benefits: Our fellow parishioners and people in local community.
Contact: Catherine Tecktiel
St. Andrew's Parents Day Out Program
A parish program that provides a safe place to learn and play for toddlers of the community.
Time commitment: From a few hours to weeks spent teaching, serving as substitute caregivers, and providing periodic cleaning of PDO classrooms.
Who benefits: Two- and three-year-old children in the community and children of St. Andrew's parishioners who enjoy learning through unstructured play. Parents benefit from gaining a few hours a week time to schedule appointments or run errands.
Contact: Liz Foreman
St. Andrew’s Vacation Bible School
An annual week-long program aimed at sharing the Good News with children of our community.
Time commitment: Varies from planning and preparation to staffing/teaching.
Who benefits: Four-year-olds through incoming fifth graders who want to learn about Jesus in an fun and encouraging atmosphere.
Contact: Hannah Andrews
Burgess Square Sunday Worship Service (temporarily suspended)
www.burgesssquare.com
St. Andrew's provides a regular Sunday service for the residents of the Burgess Square skilled nursing facility.
Time commitment: Assisting one of our Lay Eucharistic Ministers in carrying out the service at 10 a.m. Sunday.
Who benefits: Facility residents, who are primarily elderly and in need of skilled nursing services.
Contact: Jean Paré
Casa Hogar La Familia and Embrace the Dream Foundation
www.embracethedream.com
Casa Hogar La Familia is a Christ-centered children’s home just outside the city limits of Quecholac in the Mexican state of Puebla. It provides love and care for orphaned and abandoned children.
Time commitment: Varies from a few hours spent attending benefit events once or twice a year, to many hours planning and working these events, to week-long mission trips to Casa Hogar which take place every few years.
Who benefits: The children and youth of Casa Hogar who, for a variety of reasons, need parenting and a safe home with access to education.
Contact: Father Gregg
CROP Walk
www.chicagocropwalk.org
CROP Walk raises awareness and funding for the world's hungry people.
Time commitment: An hour participating in the walk along with time to secure sponsors. CROP Walk is usually held in September or October. Or you can can provide financial sponsorship to a walker.
Who benefits: People around the world and in our community who are food insecure.
Contact: Mary Ann Wiesner or Ellen Webb
Downers Grove Area FISH Food Pantry and Clothes Closet
www.downersgrovefish.org
FISH is a faith-based all-volunteer organization which serves people in need with a food pantry, clothes closet and other assistance.
Time commitment: Contribute non-perishable groceries to FISH via the blue grocery cart at St. Andrew's or volunteer in raise and harvest vegetables from our Good News Garden.
Who benefits: FISH clients in our community who are food insecure.
Contact: Waring Webb
Hope’s Front Door
www.hopesfrontdoor.org
Based in downtown Downers Grove, Hope's Front Door is a not-for-profit organization that assists economically disadvantaged individuals and families, the homeless, disabled and elderly neighbors who lack sufficient resources to provide for themselves.
Time commitment: Volunteering in a variety of roles for approximately two hours per shift.
Who benefits: Residents of six area communities in need of food, gas/transportation, medicine, oral healthcare, vision healthcare as well as financial counseling and employment coaching.
Contact: Kathy Nazzarini or Hope’s Front Door at 630-322-9803
Magdalene House Chicago
www.magdalenehousechicago.org
Magdalene House Chicago (MHC) is a two-year residential and social program for women survivors of trafficking and addiction. MHC provides a survivor-led sanctuary, centered around a phase-based recovery program. Each woman is given a clean, safe place to live, case management, access to healthcare, counseling, education, life skills training and employment free of charge. There also is a home in the western suburbs.
Commitment: A line item has been established on our church donation web page to assist with funding the program. You also are invited to sign up for the Magdalene House newsletter, which provides information on advocacy as well as volunteer and engagement opportunities.
Contact: Deacon Rose Cicero
Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans
www.helpaveteran.org
Time commitment: St. Andrew’s volunteers provide a home-cooked meal for six vets every Tuesday evening plus one Thursday a month. Meals are prepared at home and delivered to the Larson Home. We also donate items to the Freedom Commissary, a free thrift store designed to meet the clothing, household and basic needs of low-income veterans and their families.
Who benefits: U.S. veterans are provided with transitional housing and supportive services at the shelter.
Contact: Manuel Lopez
Interim Housing Center
www.dupagepads.org
Sponsored by Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS), the Interim Housing Center is located on Ogden Avenue in Downers Grove and provides a secure place to live for families. Area churches have joined forces to provide evening meals.
Time commitment: St. Andrew's partners with the Church of the Holy Nativity in Clarendon Hills to provide desserts one Saturday per month.
Who benefits: People in the community who need of a meal and a secure place to live.
Contact: Jean Paré
ReVive Christmas Baskets
www.revivecenter.org
ReVive and participating churches provide Christmas gifts for families in need in the Chicago area.
Time commitment: Shopping for and purchasing gifts and gift cards each November.
Who benefits: Low-income families and seniors living in Chicago.
Contact: Jennifer Robbins
Sandwich Board
For more than 30 years, St. Andrew's has participated in Sandwich Board through Trinity Episcopal Church in Aurora. We provide 350+ sack lunches on the second Thursday of every month.
Time commitment: Five hours to deliver, prepare and serve the lunches at noon, followed by clean-up.
Who benefits: The guests we serve
Contact: Donna Armstrong
St. Leonard's House
www.slministries.org
St. Leonard’s House provides interim housing and supportive services for formerly incarcerated men returning to the community from Illinois prisons.
Time commitment: We provide lunch a few hours Sunday afternoon twice a year.
Who benefits: St. Leonard’s House residents who are rebuilding their lives post-incarceration.
Contact: Ellen Webb
Wayside Cross Minstries
www.waysidecross.org
Wayside Cross Ministries provides meals, transitional housing while in recovery and training as well as mentors through the local church and daycare for working women in program.
Time commitment: Furniture and household items may be donated any time by contacting Wayside Cross. Volunteers also provide sales floor coverage for two- or three-hour shifts at the retail store.
Who benefits: Wayside Cross residents who depend on the resale income to support the organization's programs.
Contact: Kurt Wiesner
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